We gathered around the living room at the new property next door to the farm on Canard st. It's a beautiful home with a toasty wood-burning fireplace and open kitchen. Josh & Patricia took our questions about what it's really like running the farm, and many interesting conversations ensued.

They explained the requirements for Organic Certification; that there is in annual certification cost PLUS a lot of record keeping that requires significant time and resources.

Did you know that it takes 3 years of using organic approved practices before the land & products can be certified organic?

And they must use a list of approved products for all farming supplies, right down to containers & hand soap!?

It's quite a commitment to follow organic practices - Josh & Patricia believe firmly in the environmental, ethical, and sustainable reasons to do so. I am ever so grateful to support a farm & family that are committed to doing it the right way.

We also chatted about the changes they have gone through since they started, the upcoming CSA season, feedback form us members, and upcoming events. (Check out the EVENTS link for the great line-up they have planned for this year - including Taproot Days Friday, August 4th-7th!)

I wasn't able to stay for the field walk, but I did manage to see the work they've done on the packaging warehouse since I last visited in March - it looks great! They've done a lot of work cleaning, fixing it up and painting. Patricia filled us on in some of their plans to improve the space for efficiency and reduce waste, based on some learnings from reading & workshops her and Josh have recently done.

Some of my major take-aways from this visit:

- They are always working on improvements

- Patricia & Josh really appreciate members input & feedback

- Taproot CSA members are lovely people and make great company!

I'm really excited to spend more time at the farm, and am incredibly excited to connect with other members at all of the events they are planning for this year. I've been dreaming about how fantastic the new shared space at 441 Canardwould be for cooking classes and good ol' fashioned Kitchen Parties!

What cooking skills/recipes do you want to learn?

Would you come out to a kitchen party at the farm?

Would you join in on a jam session?

Would you like to hear a performer? Which performers would you love to hear?

Josh worked at getting a clean space up and running for seeding to start, and this week it has. Tim started seeded celeriac on Monday and finished 50 trays, or 10,000 seeds, in 200 cell trays. He has now started on Parsley. He does this seeding by hand, every seed at a time! We do have tools to make the job go a bit easier, but it's still standing over the tray and getting every seed in the cell it that gets the job done. We are waiting for more soil, and when that arrives, and thaws, Tim will take a break from the parsley and get started on tomatoes. In the next few weeks and months more people will help in the seeding. We do have an air seeder as well, that makes the job go quite a bit quicker, but isn't appropriate for all types of seeds. Tim says he hopes they never invent a machine to do all types of seeds. He loves the quite rhythm of this time of year. As it does only happen once a year.

You've seen my name on newsletters and on Facebook and in replies from the CSA desk, but who's Denise? :)

I was hired late in November to work with Patricia in an executive support capacity. It's an exciting time of growth on the farm, with HarvestHand CSA Software Program rolling out and the TapRoot Fibre Lab coming ever closer to fruition. And the farm itself is growing--we're implementing more community events and education programs and expanding the CSA. Lots of cool stuff! But too much for one person to manage. And so here I am, supporting Patricia by doing the things that need doing and having a great time working with great people. :)

A big chunk of what I've been working on has been the business plan for the TapRoot Fibre Lab and a grant funding proposal to submit to the Industrial Research Assistance Program through the National Research Council. This funding will be key to getting the project off the ground. I'm so excited about this! And really, I'm excited about working for an organisation like TapRoot who holds so true to their values around sustainability and environmental stewardship and the local economy.

My background is in music and publishing. I'm a conductor who is currently on the bench with a concussion. I'm a writer and have worked in publishing as a marketing manager and editor. I'm the grammar police. :) I'm also a hiker/adventurer, a boxer, horseback rider, back to nature-er, a (very) novice gardener, and lover of good food and drink.

This has been the summer of babies at TapRoot and Noggins Corner! Here are our three newest farm team members -- Gilbert (with Justine from TapRoot), Kate (with Carolyn from Noggins), and Elsie (with Jillian from Noggins). Also, Carolyn's daughters Emma and Mary in front. :)